Already Graydon had begun to consider the possibilities. Each more terrifying and horrible than the last.
He hoped he was wrong even as his subconscious whispered that this was the reason she had been so careful to hold herself back from Roake and the Tuann all this time.
The repercussions if Graydon was right were too terrible to consider.
For the forty-three—and the Tuann as a whole.
“Do we have anyone we can send to Consortium territory?” Graydon asked, staring at the sky.
Solal and Amila shared a brief glance before Graydon’s First stepped forward.
Solal’s face was a mask of calm as he approached Graydon. “You wish to investigate the area where Kira was found.”
Graydon’s lips twisted into an animal-like snarl. “You know me better than that.”
What Graydon desired was a little more extreme. He needed these people hunted down and brought before him so he could destroy them so thoroughly that not even an atom of their existence survived.
Maybe then he would stop feeling like his flesh was too tight on his body, unable to contain the fury resting in his heart.
“Any evidence has likely long been wiped away,” Solal pointed out.
Graydon rolled his shoulders as he sent Solal a sidelong look.
Solal bent his head, hiding his slight smile. “I’ll see who we have available.”
“You do that,” Graydon said.
Now that there was the makings of a plan, Graydon felt the compression around his chest loosen.
“I will have some of our people reopen the investigation into the Sorrowing.” Amila offered Graydon a cheeky grin. “Discreetly, of course.”
“That is a given,” Solal responded in a haughty voice that made Amila smile harder.
Graydon started for the palace again, changing course for the sparring room where he knew the emperor and Devon would be at this time of day.
He felt the need for a little violence to help bleed off the rest of this energy. What better partner than the yer’se who insisted he was ready for all that came with the adva ka.
The sounds of sparring spilled into the hallway as Graydon waved away the oshota standing guard by the entrance. They acknowledged his arrival with a nod, letting Graydon pass unchallenged as they tilted their chins in greeting at Amila and Solal behind him.
The rest of Graydon’s oshota had been left behind once they’d entered the palace.
Graydon pushed into a narrow hall, columns forming a colonnade that stretched in either direction. Dim golden lights flickered as twilight deepened outside the many sky lights that marched the length of the room.
The emperor’s personal sparring room wasn’t the biggest his palace boasted, but its privacy was guaranteed. It was the perfect size for when he wanted to test his skills without drawing an audience.
Even better, every stone in the place was imbued with a technology that would repair any amount of damage inflicted by Torvald or his opponent.
The young man at the center of the floor looked up. The golden eyes his family line was known for standing out against his light brown skin.
There was curiosity in them as he took in Graydon’s presence.
“Seon’yer?“ Devon’s forehead wrinkled. “Are you here to spar?”
There was eagerness in the question despite the signs of exhaustion written all over him. He was coated in sweat, his face slightly red from exertion.
There was also a bruise forming on one cheek bone and the side of his arm.
Graydon knew if he gave the slightest sign he was interested in a match Devon would accommodate him.
